This date is important to me for a number of reasons. Yes, it’s the day that I started my practice, but I chose July 31 to honour my father who passed away on that day in 1993, a very sad day indeed.
I was 19 years old and the time and a student at the University of Natal in South Africa. It was a traumatic time for my family and myself as not only were we caring for my father who was dying from lung cancer, but I was also in a car accident that could have killed me. I walked away from that accident, injured but alive, and with a “knowing” that it was not my time to die.
At the end of 1993 my family and I had to emigrate to Australia to keep our visas open. What a tumultuous time! Not only had my father died, but we had to pack the house up and move to another country, only for me to learn that I had been excluded from University (yes, that means I got kicked out!) for failing physics that year. Actually, it was the third time I had failed…but hey, we all suck at something!
To cut a long story short, I went back to South Africa in 1994 to sort my study woes out. The Dean of the Faculty of Agriculture had mercy on me and I was allowed to continue my studies and I graduated as a registered dietitian in South Africa.
There were very few clinical jobs available in the city I came from in South Africa. Once again, out of necessity, this new graduate made some business cards on an old, dingy, dot matrix computer and proceeded to had out said cards, with no real business plan in place except the zeal to be what I was and am passionate about, a clinical dietitan!
Looking back, all I can say is “Ignorance is bliss!”
I managed to get the practice up and running in three months and worked as a consultant dietitian at Perfect Balance for three years before immigrating to Australia permanently in 2002. I worked at the Alfred Hospital in Melbourne for four years and again went back to private practice.
This week, 11 years ago, it was a Monday as I recall, Perfect Balance Nutrition Pty Ltd was born! It was a proud, happy, sad moment.
I would like to thank my father who was an inspiration to my sister and myself of hard work, perseverance and integrity. He was a man whose legacy lives on long after he has gone. To my mother, I say thank you for always being there, for your love and your care and for all your prayers.
To my sister and business coach Mel, we made it sis! The best is yet to come!
There is a proverb that says, “Start children off on the way they should go, and even when they are old, they will not turn from it.” (Proverbs 22:6)
I thank my parents who did the best they could in bringing my sister and I up…and doing such a fine job!
Adversity and hardship can make you bitter or it can make you better. The difference between the two comes down to a choice. So come on, I dare you, choose Life!
And remember…Balance is Best!
